It took my $8.50 away...

Rating: 3/10 (10 July 2003)

Although I would agree that Danny Boyle is a good director, I think this movie is complete garbage. The cinematography is stunning, yet the story leaves much to be desired. *SPOILERS AHEAD*
The movie begins with a very brief scene consisting of animal rights activists attempting to free monkeys from some sort of scientific research center. When discovered by a scientist, he warns them not to free the monkeys because they are "infected with rage". Of course our friendly activists don't listen and all Hell breaks loose (which we don't get to see). 28 days later, our hero (Jim) wakes up in a hospital without knowledge of how he got there. He leaves to find the streets of London completely void of any signs of life. When he enters a church, he finds a floor full of infected people who chase him through the streets. Two other survivors (Selena and Mark), who have found out how to kill the infected, rescue him. They explain to Jim that everyone is pretty much dead and that anyone who becomes infected needs to be killed immediately. After a few misadventures (including Mark's death), they discover a signal in light coming from the home of a man and his daughter. The end of the movie consists of the four survivors taking refuge with soldiers who have sent out a radio signal to any who are listening that they have the answer to infection. When the soldiers decide (between scenes of fighting off the infected with flood lights, land mines, and volleys of machine-gun fire) that they are going to kill Jim and rape his two female companions (one of them a young teenager), Jim outsmarts the entire army unit and uses the infected as a weapon against them. To me, it goes without saying that the writer clearly ran out of good ideas a few minutes into the movie.
Moviegoers can certainly sympathize with the characters on screen, however undeveloped they may be. The problem with the movie is the "infected" people. These horribly disfigured characters, rather than adding shock and suspense, add an enormous sense of clichÃ© to the film that allows it to be compared to such cheesy zombie flicks as "Resident Evil". In fact, the suspense is almost completely erased because the attacks of the infected are usually preceded by fast-paced views of their charges at victims from their own perspective. In short, you are visually warned of what's coming before it even happens (as if anyone needs any sort of clue as to where this movie is going). I applaud the shooting of this film very highly. The camera-work (particularly the shots of an abandoned London) is astonishing. That, unfortunately, is as good as this movie gets.